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Sky Leviathans
Michelle Seaton
11/01/2005
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Jim Gabbert did not want to pay $60 million and wait 18 months to take possession of the most highly
prized large business aircraft on the market, the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ).
Gabbert, an entrepreneur and pilot from Sausalito, Calif., loved the idea of
traveling in a wide-body aircraft with 1,000 square feet of floor space—he just
disliked the idea of paying full price for that luxury. Neither did he want to
pay $40 million for a used BBJ. “I looked at the numbers, and it just didn’t
make sense,” he recalls.
 | THE BOEING Business Jet is essentially a converted Boeing 737; the
difference is the BBJ has a larger wingspan for agility in smaller airports.
The rest of the plane’s body, however, is identical—making it a popular choice
for conversion from commercial airliner to private jet. (Photograph courtesy The Boeing Company.) |
But his Citation Encore was definitely feeling
cramped. Slightly larger business aircraft, including the Gulfstream models,
Bombardier’s Global Express and Dassault’s new 7X have narrow cabins with
ceilings that are just above 6 feet high. When Gabbert checked the market to see
if he could upgrade to this level, price intervened again: A used Gulfstream GV
can cost $30 million.
Instead, Gabbert joined a growing number of private
aircraft owners who are finding affordability, space and luxury in a unique
airframe: He shopped for a retired commercial airliner that had been overhauled
and upgraded with a VIP interior. Because only a few of these aircraft are on
the market at any one time, he hired Wendy Bierwirth of Wentworth &
Affiliates, a Potomac, Md.-based aircraft broker and consulting service, to
locate some candidates for purchase. He considered a dozen aircraft, including
wide-body double-deckers like the Boeing 747. He looked at Airbuses and MD-80s.
He also looked at Boeing 737s, which are older versions of the BBJ. Finally,
Bierwirth found a Boeing 727, considered a bit of a chestnut in aviation
circles. Debuting in 1963, the 727 is a generation older than the 737 and has
three engines instead of two. In the 1980s, a few hundred of them were
reconfigured into business aircraft for corporate magnates and foreign heads of
state. It was the BBJ of the 1980s.
 | RWR Designs is one company that converts jet cabins into comfortable
living spaces. (Photograph by Bud Shannon Photography.) |
Bierwirth told Gabbert she had found the
only 727 that had rolled off the factory floor in 1973 as a corporate jet and
had never seen commercial service. It had flown only 10,000 hours—a pittance by aviation standards—and had been recently equipped with new engines,
avionics and a brand new interior that featured a master bedroom and bath, a
small kitchen with a two-burner stove and a convection oven, a dining area, two
seating areas and an elaborate entertainment system.
In 1998, Gabbert bought
it sight unseen for $18 million, “which is less than I would have paid for a
used Challenger 604,” he says. Today, he is as happy with his aircraft as he
ever hoped to be. He hired himself as pilot and wears a crew uniform in the
cockpit while his dog dozes nearby. He takes friends on jaunts to Europe and
South America. “They get out the George Foreman Grill and cook some prime rib.
It’s perfect,” he says.
Escape Velocity
 | THIS VIP 727 was renovated inside and out. In addition to its interior redesign,
it was retrofitted with Tey engines. (Photograph courtesy Wentworth & Affiliates.) |
The value proposition surrounding the purchase and upgrade
of older commercial aircraft for private use is complex, but for some,
irresistible. “A new Boeing Business Jet has a lifecycle of more than 100,000
hours, but a typical owner will put just 350 hours on it a year,” Bierwirth
explains. “Even if you keep it for 10 years, you are still using a tiny fraction
of the hours the plane is designed to fly. Why spend $60 million and then throw
away the majority of the usefulness of the aircraft?”
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